Reading that Haitians are only just receiving aid, now seven days after the first earthquake, was a sobering reminder for this Wellingtonian to finish my emergency kit.

An emergency kit is similar to ironing and spring cleaning – you know you should do it, but there’s always more interesting things to do with your time.

It’s not like I’ve had no reminders, because I have had many. It fascinates me that it takes so many prompts for someone to move from thinking about it to doing – and it’s something that we communciations practitioners occasionally forget when trying to influence the behaviour of others.

I’ve started my emergency kit many times over the past few years. Prompts have included:

• 2004 – a former employer encouraging their team to sign a commitment to make an emergency kit. I put pen to paper and did nothing further.
• Boxing Day 2005 – the tsunami motivated me to buy a water container. I didn’t fill it until I stumbled over it in the garage several months later.
• 2008 – Ideas Shop instructing staff to make a kit for work. I printed out the list of things to buy and bought a few cans of baked beans.

I then experienced a small earthquake at work. Our building shook like mad, so that weekend I revisited my kits (by this time I had two: one for work, one for home).

Last week’s earthquake in Haiti reinforced for me that no dashing prince would ride in bearing water and food; it was up to me. So I finally finished my kits.

My five-year journey was a good reminder that it takes MANY prompts, from MANY sources, to motivate people to act – especially when the rewards for doing so are far off in the future.

It also reinforces that behaviour change takes a long time – so campaigns, and the measurement of them, also need to be long term.

More importantly, I’ll be as ready as I can be for the ‘big one’ when it strikes – assuming I’m somewhere near my kits that is.